Aberdeen Castle Trail - Delgatie Castle

Looking up at Delgatie Castle

We are now heading south and it was my turn to do what I wanted to do!  So what else but the Castle Trail in Aberdeenshire!  Using the leaflet we picked up, I chose a route heading almost straight south from where we started on the norther coast and stopping at Stonehaven for the night.

Our first stop was a castle where Mary Queen of Scots started. She did stay in quite a few castles in her short and stressful life!  Delgatie Castle was different from many of the castles I have seen in Scotland and I loved it.  It was purchased as a derelict ruin in the '50s by Captain Hay.  From what I have found, he may have been a descendant of the original family who owned it.  He and his wife, Evirild, refurbished the castle and made it into what feels like a comfortable family home.  Well, as comfortable as a centuries old building can feel like.

We had to park at the foot of the hill where the castle is situated and Alan waited with Kenzie while I was able to enjoy the castle on my own.  I budgeted about an hour since I don't like them to sit around and wait for me too long!

Even before entering, this castle feels very different, sort of like a work in progress where the progress has stopped.  There is a piece of a dovecote just standing next to the part of the castle where the chapel is.  Walls standing where there would have been other walls connecting them to something.

         A lovely monument to the many animals who assist and suffer in times of war.

And a fascinating and beautiful gate with the names John and Everild on the top.  I was unable to understand the meaning of "Everild" when I first saw it but hoped I would figure it out eventually. And I did!  In each room, Captain Hay has written his own memories and summaries of the rooms, what happened in them - both historically and in relatively current times.  And in one summary, he mentions his wife "Everild"!

The road to Delgatie Castle is rather narrow! 

There is the bay window and I wonder if the brick entryway
was also added at the same time, maybe to add a bit
of support to that huge new window....

These personal summaries are lovely and really let me feel this castle in ways others never have.







One thing Captain Hay mentioned that I really enjoyed was how, once Queen Victoria and Prince Albert discovered Scotland and began living in Balmoral, everyone who was anyone had to add a bay window to their own castles and mansions!  I guess Balmoral had bay windows.  I never thought of making fashion statements with castles, but there it is!  Captain Hay also said the bay window the owners added caused permanent structural damage to Delgatie Castle, but at least it looked good (I added that last part!).  But I would also have liked to purchase a book about it.  Sadly, there is no book and there was no photography permitted.  It took me a while to find a link to show what some of the rooms of this castle looked like but I did find one eventually.  Just with I could've taken some!

A view of the back of the castle, the "keep" would have been
on the right, with the steeper roof and no windows.

I am always fascinated to see how the original keeps become castles and it is easy to see them.  In the photo above, the "keep" is facing us. It would have stood on its own with the door at about the second floor level so the residents could control who entered. Eventually, all the other building parts would have been added.  Virtually any castle you see in Scotland, and some I noticed in France, have the keep as the main building and go from there.





The Laird's Kitchen looked inviting too, but it was close to lunch so I just left at this point and joined my travel companions for lunch in the motorhome before heading off to our next castle!